Maoists enter Kerala

Maoism is spreading its tentacles in the state, banking on the grievance of land allotment and social inequities, and now the leftist mercenaries plan to collaborate with global Islamic terror groups ‘to fight globalisation and imperialism’.

The threat of Maoism has come of age in Kerala with some unidentified persons firing at a group of policemen of the special force Thunderbolt. The incident took place on 6 December while the policemen were on a routine combing operations in the forest lands of Wayanad.

A Maoist attack in Kerala was not unprecedented. On 14 November, a group of Maoist’s had ransacked a resort in Wayanad and destroyed it. On 10 November too, the suspected Maoist’s had attacked an Indo-Japanese joint venture Nitta Gelatin’s corporate office in the busy metro city of Kochi in broad daylight.

The state government had intelligence reports on the presence of Maoist’s in the state. Home Minister Ramesh Chennithala, while answering a question in the Legislative Assembly on 30 June, had said that the Maoist presence in the state had been a reality since February 2013. The home minister also said that Maoists were grouping and that the police were on their lookout. He further said that he could not elaborate on the information owing to security reasons.

On their part, the Maoists complained that the attack on Nitta Gilatin was carried out because the company had been polluting the river by its effluents and making life miserable for the local people. In a recent interview to a private news channel, a senior Maoist functionary claimed that the Maoists are grouping themselves in the forest areas along the Kerala and Karnataka border and that the outfit has its presence throughout the state.

Whether these claims are true or not, the Maoist presence sends shivers down the spines of the people of Kerala, with several reports coming on the outfit’s capability of attacking at random and creating mayhem and destruction.

The Kerala society at large is under this fear as Naxal groups had dealt considerable damage to the state with the attack on Pulpally police station in November 1968, the memory of which still haunts them.

A major question arising before the Kerala society is why the Maoist presence is so palpable and why the youth are joining these groups. The presence of migrant labourers and the failure to verify the antecedents of these labourers has been one prominent reason.

The state government has launched several combing operations with a special police squad aptly named “Thunderbolt” to address the issue. However, the result of this force has been minimal, with even self-styled commander of the state Maoist grouping Roopesh still absconding and issuing statements at will from his underground hideout.

Roopesh has been issuing statements at will in all the Maoist publications on various issues related to the outlawed group’s activities. A former state committee member of the Yuvajana Vedi, KN Ramachandran’s group, while speaking to this correspondent said, “The heavy presence of Maoists in Kerala is a ploy by the state police and the administration as they can funnel in huge amount of central funds to the police coffers. This is a decision taken at the top level so that crores of rupees can be channelised.”

He added,

“Why Kerala Police, which claims to be a super investigative agency solving complicated criminal cases, is not able to apprehend a person like Rupesh is a mystery, This shows that there is something missing in the whole scenario and that this is a ploy to create a fear psychosis.”

He, however, also added that there is an organisation in place and that the Late Kanu Sanyal’s group is somewhat active in the state with an organised structure, but they are not underground.

Police sources dismissed this contention. They are of the opinion that Maoist groups have always been spreading blatant lies about ‘police atrocities’ and this is how they operate in various parts of the country. The ambush and killing of several CRPF personnel in many areas of the country demonstrate how the Maoists operate and how cruel they are towards the police personnel and people at large.

One of the major reasons of Maoist activities gaining ground may be the inability of the state government to settle issues of the landless in a state with several marginalised communities, still fighting with their backs to the wall to solve the vexed problem of land. The state government could only hurriedly settle the agitation organised by the Adivasi Gotra Maha Sabha (AGMS) and other tribal organisations in front of the state secretariat that was raging for the past four months to remind the government of its promise to the tribal leadership of providing land to the landless before the last Kerala Assembly elections.

The government had otherwise turned a blind eye to this issue till recently. The recent attack by Maoists has accelerated the decision taken by the state government in providing land to the landless tribes of Kerala ― a contract that former Chief Minister of Kerala AK Antony had made with frontal tribal organisation AGMS.

It may be recalled that the state government under Oomen Chandy has been able to end the movement by the Left Front youth wing, in front of the secretariat within a few days. This total denial of rights to the tribes is one plank on which the Maoists are trying to increase their presence. Their pamphlets and propaganda machinery harp on this issue and work well on the minds of the downtrodden.

The recent deaths of Infants in the Attapadi tribal settlement area and the large presence of unwed mothers from the tribal community in Waynad and Idukki districts are the other issues the Maoists have taken up.

Sources in the central intelligence told this correspondent that the Maoists are trying to establish direct links with one of the major Islamist organisations in the state, which is credited with spearheading a movement among Dalits under the guise of their organisation.

Senior Maoist leader Ganapathi had earlier made a statement from Andhra that the Maoists could join with any force fighting against globalisation and imperialism, and that the Islamic groups fighting against Americans and Israelis were a great partner in the fight. Former state secretary of Yuvajana Vedi, KT Kunhikannan, who is now a state committee member of the CPI(M), said, “This shows how low the present crop of Maoist leaders can stoop and what they want to do. They don’t have any clear conviction, but if such a combination happens it can be dangerous.”

This tie up between the Maoists and Islamist organisations is one major eventuality that the police top brass in the state is trying to nip in the bud. With the central intelligence agencies giving clear inputs on the merging of these outfits, it is for the state police machinery to tackle this issue.